<*^  0 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  March   10,  1863.— Referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


COMMUNICATION  OF  G.  TOCHMAN,  TOUCHING  HIS  ME- 
MORIAL NOW   BEFORE  CONGRESS. 

» 

Richmond,  Va.,  March  0,  1863. 
Hon.  W.  R.  Smith, 

Thar  Sir:  A  fe>v  days  since  L  received  from  the  Secretary  of  War 
a  letter  bearing  date  February  17,  1868,  purporting  to  be  an  answer 
to  some  application,  which  T ntver  made  to  him  m>r  tt  any  department, 
for  the  payment  for  services  rendered  as  a  recruiting  agent.  This 
letter  is  fully  inserted  in  the  enclosed  copy  of  my  reply  to  it,  marked 
A,  which  brought  me  another  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  which  a 
copy  marked  B  is  also  enclosed  herein.  The  perusal  of  these  two 
papers  shows  that  the  Secretary's  second  letter,  marked  B,  though  it 
is  a  courteous  answer  to  my  letter  marked  A,  leaves  me,  however, 
precisely  in  the  same  darkn  ss  as  the  former  letter,  as  to  the  causes 
or  motives  of  addressing  it  to  me,  in  answer  to  a  suppos:d  application, 
which  1  n  ix  r  made,  for  the  payment  for  services  as  a  recruiting  agent.  1 
cannot  suppose  that  my  memorial  before  Congress,  in  which  I  beg  for 
some  commutation  of  honorable  relief  f)r  the  injury  to  my  reputation, 
and  damages,  caused  by  the  action  of  the  Executive  which  deprived 
me,  without  cause,  of  the  command  of  the  troops  I  raised  in  the  expect- 
ation of  commanding  them,  could  have  authorized  so  derogatory  a 
construction  of  my  sacrifices  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  as  is  the  attempt  of  treating  me  as  a  mere  recruiting 
agent.  As  this  casual  communication  between  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  myself  seems  to  have  direct  bearing  upon  my  claim  for  justice 
and  relief  now  before  Congress,  I  respectfully  beg  you  to  present  it 
to  that  honorable  body,  that  it  may  be  ordered  to  be  printed  and  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  which  has  now  under 
consideration  my  original  memorial. 

With  the  highest  respect,  I  am  dear  sir. 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

G.  TOCHMAN. 


[Copy.] 
[A] 

Richmond,  Va.,  March  2,  1863. 

Hon.  James  A.  Seddon,  Secretary  of  War,  C.  S.  A.: 

Sir  :  T  have  received  from  your  office  lust  Saturday  a  paper  bearing 
date  "  Kebruary  17,  1863,"  which  reads  as  follows: 

"Your  claim  for  services  as  recruiting  agent  is  apparently  a  just 
one,  but  Congress  has  not  afforded  to  this  Department  the  power  or 
means  of  paying  for  official  services  in  cases  where  no  commission  has 
been  issued.  A  great  many  claims  of  this  nature,  whose  merits  are 
not  denied,  have  been  rejected  for  this  reason.  The  Department  has 
recommended  to  Congress  to  make  some  proyision  for  them,  and  until 
that  is  done  it  is  without  power  or  means  to  act. 

Respectfully, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War" 

This  paper  evidently  purports  to  be  an  answer  to  some  application 
claiming  the  payment  for  services  rendered  as  a  recruiting  agent.   As 
I  have  never  acted  in  such  capacity  for  the  Government  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  and  never  presented  to  you,  nor  to  any  Department, 
any  claim  whatever  for, such  services,  the  receipt  of  this  paper  is  sur- 
prising  and  perplexing  to  me,  I  cannot   comprehend    what  is  its  real 
purport,  nor  do  I  know  what  motives  or  causes  called  for  the  action 
of  which  it  is  the  result.     It  is  true  that  I  raised  a  brigade  of  troops 
in  1861,  but  I  did  raise  them  for  my  own  command,  under  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act  of  Congress,  numbered  109,  approved  May  8th,  1861, 
and  the  authority  obtained   under  it  from  your  predecessor,  Hon.  L. 
P.  Walker,  bearing  date   "May  20,  1861."     The  command  of  these 
troops  was  denied  to  me  by  the  action  of  the  Executive,  without  any 
fault  on  my  part,  and,  as  I  consider,  in  violation  of  that  act  of  Con- 
gress, and  the  agreement  with  your  predecessor,  under  which  I  under- 
took to  raise,  and  did  raise,  a  brigade  of  troops  for  my  own  command. 
This  led  me  to  seek  at  the  hands  of  Congress  for   some  commutation 
of  relief;  but  in  my  memorial   addressed  to   Congress,   I  no  where 
claim,  but  expressly  disclaim,  to  have  been  a  recruiting  -agent,  and  I 
do   emphatically   protest  against  such  construction  of  my  authority. 
Having  been  a  field  officer  in  the  Polish  army  during  our  revolution, 
I  would  never  have  sacrificed  my  property  here,  the   welfare  of  my 
family,  and  all  my  prospects  at  the  North,  to  be  a  mere  recruiting  agent 
for  the  Confederate  States,  my  most  sincere  patriotic  devotion  to  their 
cause   notwithstanding.     With   this   explanation   then,  and   with  the 
protest  against  such  construction  of  my  authority,  I  respectfully  beg 
you  to  inform  rae  of  the  signification  of  the  paper   which  has  called 
forth  this  communication,  and  what  occasion  gave  place  to  your  ad- 


3 

ing  it  to  me.  And  in  order  that  my  position  be  better  under- 
stood in  this  case,  I  enclose  herewith  a  copy  of  the  memorial  presented 
to  Congress,  together  with  a  copy  of  the  "  suggestive  points."  filed 
on  the  20th  of  February  with  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  printed  by  order  of  that  House. 

1  have  the  honor  to  he,  sir, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 
(Signed,)  <i.    TOCIIMAN. 


[B] 

Major  (J.    ToeiiMAN, 

Richmond,  Va. ; 

Sir:    irour  letter  of  the  2d   instant  had   been  received,      in; 
you  arc  respectfully  informed  that  the  Department  in  its  letter  of  the 
l?th  ult.,  had  no  intention  of  disp  .lie  character  or  justice  of 

your  claims,  but  m  I  to  communicate  the  fact  that  Cob 

had  not  invested  it  with  the  power  to  acknowledge  and  pay  them. 

Respectfully, 
(Signed,)  JAMES   A.   SEBDON, 

Secretary  of  War. 


\ 


